BACKGAMMON. 
602 
verfary’s man up whenever he tan, it being 25 to 11 that 
he is not hit : except when he is playing for a (ingle hit 
only ; then, if playing the throw otherwife gives him a 
better chance for it, he ought to do it. 
It being five to one againft his being hit with double 
dice, he (hould never be deterred from taking up any one 
man of the adverfary’s. If he has taken up one of the ad. 
veriary’s men, and fhould happen to have five points in 
his own tables, and forced to leave a blot out of his ta¬ 
bles, he fhould endeavour to leave it upon doublets pre¬ 
ferable to any other chance, becaufe in that cafe the odds 
are 35 to 1 that he is not hit ; whereas it is only 17 to 1 
but he is hit upon any other chance. 
When the adverfary is very forward, a player fhould 
never move a man from his own quatre, trois, or deuce, 
points, thinking to bear that man from the point where 
die put it, as nothing but high doublets can give him any 
chance for the hit. lnftead of playing an ace or a deuce 
from any of thofe points, he fhould play them from his 
own fize or higheft points, fo that throwing tw r o fives, or 
two fours, his fize and cinque points being eafed, would 
be a confiderable advantage to him ; whereas, had they 
been loaded, he muff have been obliged to play otherwife. 
It is the Interefl of the adverfary to take up the player 
as foon as he enters. The blot fhould be left upon the 
adverfary’s lowed point ; that is to fay, upon his deuce 
point rather than upon his trois point; or upon his trois 
point rather than his quatre point ; or upon his quatre 
point preferably to his. cinque point, for a reafon before- 
mentioned : all the men the adverfary plays upon his 
trois or his deuce points, are deemed loft, being greatly 
out of play ; fo that thofe men not having it in their 
power to make his cinque point, and his game being 
crowded in one place and open in another, the adverfary 
mud be greatly annoyed by the player. If the player has 
two of the adverfary’s men in his tables, he has a better 
chance for a hit than if he had more, provided his game 
Is forwarder than that of his antagomft; for, if he had 
three or more of his adverfary’s men in his tables, he 
would (land a worfe chance to be hit. 
When a player is running to fave the gammon, if he 
fhould have two men upon his ace point, and feveral men 
abroad, although he fhould lofe one point or two in put¬ 
ting his men into his tables, it is his intereft to leave a 
man upon the adverfary’s ace point, becaufe it will pre¬ 
vent his adverfary from bearing his men to the greateft 
advantage, and at the fame time the player will have a 
chance of the adverfary’s making a blot, which he may 
chance to hit. However, if a player finds, upon a throw, 
that he has a probability of faving his gammon, he fhould 
never wait for a blot, as the odds are greatly againft his 
hitting it, but fhould embrace that opportunity. 
How to calculate the odds of Javing or winning the gammon. 
*—Suppofe the adverfary has fo many men abroad as re¬ 
quire three throws to put them into his tables, and at the 
fame time that the player’s tables are made up, and that 
he has taken up one of the adverfary’s men ; in this cafe, 
it is about an equal wager that the adverfary is gammoned. 
For in all probability the player has borne two men be¬ 
fore he opens his tables, and, when he bears the third man, 
he will be obliged to open his fize or cinque point. It is 
then probable, that the adverfary is obliged to throw 
twice before he enters his men in the player’s tables, 
twice more before he puts that man into his own tables, 
and three throws more to put the men which are abroad 
into his own tables, in all feven throws. Now the player 
having twelve men to bear, he may be forced to make an 
ace or a deuce twice before he can bear all his men, and 
confequently will require feven throws in bearing them ; 
fo that, upon the whole, it is about equal whether the ad- 
verfary is gammoned or not. Suppofe a player has three 
men upon his adverfary’s ace point and five points in his 
own tables, and that the adverfary has all his men in his 
tables, three upon each of his five higheil points: has the 
player a probability of gammoning his adverfary or not l 
POINTS. 
For bearing fhree men from his 6th point is 18 
From his 5th point - - - - ,3 
From his 4th point J2 
From his 3d point - - g 
From his 2d point .... 9 
In all 60 
Bringing his three men from the adverfary’s 
ace point to his fize point in his own tables, 
being 18 points each, and making together 34 
There mull remain - 6 
It is plain from this calculation, that the player has 
much thebeft of the probability of the gammon, exclufive 
of one or more blots which the adverfary is liable to make 
in bearing his men, fuppofing at the fame time the throws 
to be upon an equality. 
Suppofe two blots are left, either of which cannot be 
hit but by double dice; one nnift be hit by throwing 
eight, and the other by throwing nine; fo that the ad¬ 
verfary has only one die to hit either of them. What 
are the odds of hitting either of them ? The chances of 
two dice being in all - - - - - -jg 
The chances to hit 8 are 6 and 2 twice - 2 
5 and 3 twice - 2 
2 deuces ------ 1 
2 fours - - - - - 1 
The chances to hit 9 are 6 and 3 twice - 2 
5 and 4 twice - 2 
2 trois ------ 1 
For hitting in all - - - - u 
Chances for not hitting remain - - 25 
So that the odds are 25 to 11 againft hitting 
either of thefe blots. 
This method may be taken to find out the odds of hit¬ 
ting three, four, or five, blots upon double dice ; or blots 
made upon double and lingle dice at the fame time. Af¬ 
ter knowing how many chances there are to hit any of 
thofe blots, they mull be added all together, and then fub- 
trafted from the number 36, which arc the chances of the 
two dice, and the queftion is folved. 
A critical cafe for a back-game. —Suppofe the fore-game 
to be played by A, and that all his men are placed as 
ufual; B lias fourteen of his men placed upon his adver¬ 
fary’s ace point and one man upon his adverfary’s deuce 
point, and B is to throw : who lias the beft of the hit ?— 
Anfwer: A has the beft of it, gold to filver;, becaufe, if 
B does not throw an ace to take his adverfary’s deuce 
point, which is 25 to 11 againft him, A will take up B’s 
men in his tables, either fingly or to make points ; and 
then, if B fecures either A’s deuce or trois point, A will 
put as many men down as poflible, in order to hit, and 
thereby get a back-game. It is evident that the back- 
game is very powerful ; confequently, whoever pratlifes 
it muft become a greater proficient at the game than he 
could by any other means. 
Another critical cafe. —Suppofe A to have five men placed 
upon his fize point, as many upon his quatre point, and 
the fame number upon his deuce point, all in his own ta¬ 
bles. At the fame time, let us fuppofe B to have three 
men placed upon A’s ace point, as many upon A’s trois 
point, and the fame number upon A’s cinque point, in his 
own tables, and three men placed as ufual out of his ta¬ 
bles: who has the beft of the hit ? — Anfwer The game is 
equal, till B has gained his cinque and quatre points in his 
own tables ; which, if he can efte£t, and by playing two 
men from A’s cinque point, in order to force his adverfary 
to blot by throwing a cane ; which, fhould B hit, he will 
have the beft of the hit. 
A cafe of curiofity and infl.ruB.ion ; in which is Jhewn the 
probability of making the hit lajl by one of the players for many 
hours , although they fall both play as fafl as ufual. —Suppofe 
B to have borne 13 men, and that A has his 15 men in 
B’s tables, viz. three men upon his fize point, as mat>y 
3 upon 
